Confusion on RI Treatment

Hello,

I received a ball python a little over a week ago. He and his companion were nearly frozen (thank you Fed-ex). They did both recover and so far have each eaten a meal. The male has the starts of an URI from the sounds (wheezing when handled), I'll be phoning the vet in the morning, but my confusion is I hear increase humidity, and then I hear take away humidity to help as well as the increased heat. So...which is it? I had a moist hide in the cage for him (he was halfway through a shed when he arrived so had stuck shed), I took it out on the advice of a snake friend, then another snake friend said to increase the humidity. After reading different articles on the subject it seems to be half and half. Is there a better way when it comes to these guys, or is it better for some species to be kept dry and others moist when it comes to RI's?

Thanks for any help you can offer! :)

Nicole

Thank you FedEx or thank you shipper? Unless the shipment got delayed after FedEx had custody of it, it probably wasn't packaged properly. As far as the RI goes, the main thing from my understanding is to bump the heat up.

Chris nailed it, sounds like the guy you bought them from wasn't on par with shipping standards.

For Ball Pythons, increase temps to 85 cool side and 95 hot side and decrease the humidity a bit.

They arrived in their own individual snake bags, with newspaper crumpled around them, two hand warmer heat packs, then all sides of the box had styrofoam inserts inside. I've received two other shipments from other breeders the same way (sans newspaper - I think they used packing peanuts), so does that sound wrong to you guys? New at this, so don't know what's standard and what is subpar. It looked like the reptile shipping boxes you can buy from LLLreptile.
The Fedex guy brought them to my sideways (not a real biggie, but didn't appreciate the fact that he was ignoring the arrows pointing UP), I mentioned to him to please be careful since there were live animals inside. LIVE HARMLESS REPTILE and BALL PYTHON were both written on the sides of the box. He then says, Oh, I hope they are okay, they've been by the door all morning. So every time he made a drop off on his way to me they were blasted with our 20 degree NH air. So I don't know if it is FED-EX or the shippers fault, but either way it was a horrible experience to open the box and feel like they had been in the fridge all day. No movement, limp, but not bendable. I thought they were both deceased. I'm amazed and thrilled that they both survived and if an RI is the worst of what is wrong with them, I'll be happy.

Just really didn't know other than bumping up the heat whether to add humidity, or keep it dry since I've been told both by people with more experience than me.
Currently he's only got his water bowl, but I provide all my snakes with a moist hide on the warm side to aid in shedding and I took that out for the time being.

Thanks for input and if anyone else has a reason why humidity should be increased, I'd love to hear it!

Thanks,
Nicole

INCREASING the humidity will help to break up mucus and make it easier to expell.

The only real way of treating an RI is to get meds from the vet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

INCREASING the humidity will help to break up mucus and make it easier to expell.

The only real way of treating an RI is to get meds from the vet.

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increasing the humidity will help drown the snake! decrease humidity, increase temp, hold off on vet!

i have never given meds to my animals for URI. never lost an animal to uri. all i do is increase temp and remove their water dish. keep their tub/cage clean and dry, and watch the animal closely for a few days. if your ball was blowing bubbles breathing with its mouth open, not eating then maybe a vet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gwood267

increasing the humidity will help drown the snake! decrease humidity, increase temp, hold off on vet!

i have never given meds to my animals for URI. never lost an animal to uri. all i do is increase temp and remove their water dish. keep their tub/cage clean and dry, and watch the animal closely for a few days. if your ball was blowing bubbles breathing with its mouth open, not eating then maybe a vet.

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Increasing humidity will not drown a snake. I don't know where you think that makes sense.

For different species it seems that different methods seem to work better or worse.

From my readings for Ball Pythons, dropping the humidity is better.

Blood Pythons, raise the humidity.

Raising or lowering the humidity isn't the only aspect of an effective treatment, temps as well as the appropriate medications are equally if not more important.

If caught early enough though, most times the upped temps will help out pretty good.

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Originally Posted by 2kdime

Raising or lowering the humidity isn't the only aspect of an effective treatment, temps as well as the appropriate medications are equally if not more important.

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I agree.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Increasing humidity will not drown a snake. I don't know where you think that makes sense.

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snakes don't cough and only have one lung. adding fluid to that lung will do what?
again i say the begining stages of a URI. increase heat decrease humidity!

Okay, I realize it's a URI, I AM taking him to the vet in the morning, or calling so I can hopefully get into the vet asap. I just wanted to know if in the mean time besides increasing his heat, which I've already done, should I decrease the humidity or decrease it to help him further.
The person that told me to increase humidity had experience with RI's in Blood's, the person that told me to decrease had experience with corns and boas. So I was unsure what the protocol for ball's was and I'm still getting conflicting info, LOL!

I guess the general consensus is to decrease the humidity for ball's, and just do what I've been doing until I get him into the vet tomorrow. Even though it "may" clear up on it's own without antibiotics, I'm going to have him checked out since he went through such an awful ordeal. He may have a heavier than normal parasite load because of all the stress so a checkup certainly won't hurt.

Thanks for the advice and if anyone can offer more input on the dry heat vs. moist heat, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

First and foremost get his heat up to the low 90's. Have the vet run a culture to find out what bacteria is causing the RI so he can prescribe the proper medication. Different bacteria react to different meds. Without this you could be wasting valuble time with the wrong medication. This should be done ASAP. As mentioned snakes only have one primitive lung and can drown from too much congestion as they cant cough it up like we do. IMO 20 degrees is very cold to ship a BP. As far as humidity I say just keep it a normal 50%. Heat is the biggest help.

Best of luck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by west coast jungle

first and foremost get his heat up to the low 90's. Have the vet run a culture to find out what bacteria is causing the ri so he can prescribe the proper medication. Different bacteria react to different meds. Without this you could be wasting valuble time with the wrong medication. This should be done asap. As mentioned snakes only have one primitive lung and can drown from too much congestion as they cant cough it up like we do. Imo 20 degrees is very cold to ship a bp. As far as humidity i say just keep it a normal 50%. Heat is the biggest help.

Best of luck

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x2

Update:

So vet gave antibiotics and fluids, we will be repeating every 3 days. Also did a fecal since "Vader" gave us a present at the right time. No added moisture at the moment. He did say both approaches have benefits. Dry helps, but moist does too, it depends on the case and species of snake.
He was appalled that anyone would ship this time of year. He also mentioned that the male I bought and needed so desperately to breed for me (Like now - which isn't happening), looks like a female. So when we go back on Thursday he will probe to double check.
So wishing I could take this purchase back!

x3

Quote:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

First and foremost get his heat up to the low 90's. Have the vet run a culture to find out what bacteria is causing the RI so he can prescribe the proper medication. Different bacteria react to different meds. Without this you could be wasting valuble time with the wrong medication. This should be done ASAP. As mentioned snakes only have one primitive lung and can drown from too much congestion as they cant cough it up like we do. IMO 20 degrees is very cold to ship a BP. As far as humidity I say just keep it a normal 50%. Heat is the biggest help.

Best of luck

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by nbelval

He then says, Oh, I hope they are okay, they've been by the door all morning. So every time he made a drop off on his way to me they were blasted with our 20 degree NH air.

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Who on earth shipped to you when it was below freezing?? Just wondeing...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gwood267

increasing the humidity will help drown the snake! decrease humidity, increase temp, hold off on vet!

i have never given meds to my animals for URI. never lost an animal to uri. all i do is increase temp and remove their water dish. keep their tub/cage clean and dry, and watch the animal closely for a few days. if your ball was blowing bubbles breathing with its mouth open, not eating then maybe a vet.

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Increasing humidity helps to break up dried mucus:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ction+humidity

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ction+humidity

You may also want to listen to this episode of Reptile Radio - in which the leading vet in the country, Scott Stahl discusses the most CURRENT methods of treating RI's.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/reptile...ile-veterinary

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gwood267

increasing the humidity will help drown the snake! decrease humidity, increase temp, hold off on vet!

i have never given meds to my animals for URI. never lost an animal to uri. all i do is increase temp and remove their water dish. keep their tub/cage clean and dry, and watch the animal closely for a few days. if your ball was blowing bubbles breathing with its mouth open, not eating then maybe a vet.

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I would never suggest that anyone hold off from a vet in the case of something as serious as an RI.